Ministry of Commerce & Industry
This is the time to leverage friendship and partnerships to solve problems that the world is facing today: Shri Piyush Goyal at CII Partnership Summit 2023
India is committed to sustainable goals, sustainable lifestyle and to the circular economy and would like to partner with other countries in this endeavour: Shri Goyal
India offers many competitive advantages over other competing economies, focusing on high quality of goods as well as leveraging economies of scale: Shri Goyal
India expanding Rupee trade with several countries, talks in advanced stages: Shri Goyal
We are a proud nation today for winning two Oscars; The Elephant Whisperers highlights our sustainable development and harmony with nature: Shri Goyal
It is a time to leverage friendships and partnerships to solve the many problems that the world is facing today. This was stated by Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal at the CII Partnership Summit 2023 in New Delhi today.
Elaborating on the theme, the Minister said that in these tough times, when the world has barely come out of COVID, when we are confronted with a conflict which took economies down, which raised inflation and consequently interest rates, which brought deep recession in many parts of the world, meeting like this helps us all to see how we can get the best for each one of us through collective solutions to global challenges and global problems.
We are looking for resilient, distributed and stable sources of growth supply chains, he said. We are seeking greater market access with minimizing the exposure to risk that many of our economies are facing, he said, adding that as the honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi said, and I quote, it is only partnerships that will get us to our goals.
The Minister pointed out that India has set an example for the world. He said that as a responsible global citizen, when we developed the COVID vaccine, we used it not only for our own citizens, who are administered 2.2 billion vaccines free of charge but we also provided vaccines to the less developed countries to the Pacific island nations to Caribbean nations, to small island states to our neighborhood. Over 250 million vaccines were provided, most of them free of charge, to other parts of the world, he added.
Speaking on the need to innovate, Shri Goyal said that all of us will have to look at innovative ideas, new ways of doing our work more efficiently, more effectively. Our startup ecosystem reflects that innovative spirit, he said pointing out that India, which barely had three or four unicorns seven years ago, today has over 100 unicorns and India's startup ecosystem is the third largest in the world.
The minister said that sustainability is a way of life in India and we don’t need to be taught or to learn from other parts of the world. He pointed out that our green goals are very ambitious and said that Prime Minister Modi introduced the concept of life that is sustainable lifestyles, which is the need of the hour. Because the waste that we are all generating across the world, more particularly in the developed world is a larger cause of this big problem of climate change, than the needs of humanity. Shri Goyal said that as Mahatma Gandhi had said, we in this generation are all trustees and custodians for our children. And it's incumbent on all of us to leave behind a better word than the one we inherited so that our children get a better future.
Shri Goyal said that we in India are committed to our sustainable goals and sustainable lifestyle. We are committed to the circular economy. We are committed to eliminating waste or reuse and recycling and I invite all our partner countries to work with India, to learn from India, to partner India in this effort to make the world a better place to live, Shri Goyal said.
Shri Goyal spoke on India’s partnership with the world economies. He said we are entering into international agreements with several countries to enable our businesses as we will enable businesses around the world. We will engage deeply with each other so that we can become a larger player on the international global economic front. He said that this effort has been led by Prime Minister Modi literally from the front line. Citing an example, Shri Goyal said that two years ago, our exports of goods and services collectively worth $500 billion dollars. Prime Minister Modi decided that India will convert the crisis of COVID into an opportunity we will not be deterred by the crisis. Prime Minister talked to all the export promotion councils in the country heard them understood the challenges they were facing. He found solutions and spoke to our mission heads across the world. And now as we celebrate 75 years of an independent India, we are marching ahead to cross $750 billion of exports of goods and services.
India today offers many competitive advantages over other competing economies, Commerce and Industry Minister said. We are focusing more on high quality of goods as well as leveraging economies of scale, particularly given the large domestic market that we offer to businesses and investors who come and work in India and to our friends in their economic engagement with India, he said.
Our MSMEs are first engaging with digitalization and as was mentioned earlier, India is developing its digital promise in the form of digital public goods for the use of the rest of the world. Singapore and India have recently partnered on UPI and we hope to do the same with UAE in the near future. We are expanding rupee trade with several countries, many of which are at an advanced stage of dialogue and finalization.
Shri Goyal said that when we talk about financing global economic recovery, a strong and responsive international institutional framework is called for. We need to also see that some non-transparent economies, whose economic systems are totally opaque, enjoy the fruits of multilateral engagement. I think it's time the world called out such countries and made them accountable and transparent.
Speaking on technology partnership, Shri Goyal said that when we talk of emerging technologies it's important that we do a skill mapping. We will find certain nations with tremendous skills. We can match that with the skill deficit, yet rich countries which need those skills. That matchmaking is what partnerships are all about, he said. Singapore and India are making a serious effort to do that matchmaking he said.
Earlier, the Minister began his speech by complimenting the two Oscar winners from India. He said that we are a proud nation today for winning two Oscars. The Elephant Whisperers highlights sustainable development and harmony with nature. But it also gives us a sense of women's development in India, with both the director and producers being women.